The Dalai Lama returns to Montreal later this year on September 7, to address the Second Global Conference On World’s Religions after September 11, which will meet at the Palais des Congrès, almost after a decade following the events of 9/11.

Other renowned speakers include Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, world-famous author Deepak Chopra, Professor Tariq Ramadan, and Professor Robert Thurman. Professor Gregory Baum, recipient of the Order of Canada and Swami Dayananda Saraswati will also participate in the conference.

Under the theme of “Peace Through Religion”, the one-day event will include the unveiling of the latest version of a proposed Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions, which has been on the anvil since 1996 and which is designed as a complement to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

“The aim of the conference is to bring together the various religions of the world in an ecumenical spirit to address the many issues facing the world today, in the hope that this will help all of us become better human beings”, emphasized the convenor of the event, Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at the Faculty of Religious Studies of McGill University.
Panel discussions with the speakers will seek to generate consensus around two fundamental social and religious issues:

• Should a course on world religions also be taught whenever the confessional study or religion is carried out?

and

• Should violating the sanctity of the scripture of any religion be considered tantamount to violating the sanctity of the scriptures of all religions?

The Conference is co-sponsored by McGill University and Université de Montréal.

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Polarized debates around migration, national identities and integration of Muslims in today’s society are increasing in Europe and North America.
The UN Alliance of Civilizations has invited two prominent personalities for a conversation on these issues: the New York Times journalist Roger Cohen, and the Philosopher and Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan.

The discussion will focus on the reasons immigration is perceived as negatively affecting coexistence in Europe, and why Islam is often depicted as incompatible with Western values. Together with the in-house and online audience, discussants will explore ways to better acknowledge European and American Muslims’ contributions to their societies, and examine what role these groups can have in supporting the integration of recent Muslim immigrants.

The conversation will be held on Monday, December 20th in London, UK, from 2h to 3h30pm, at the St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace (78 Bishopsgate).

The in-house and online audience will be invited to put forward questions to the speakers in real time, by email or facebook.

Click here to learn more and view the event online

by Manya Brachear of the Chicago Tribune

Six years after the U.S. government barred Tariq Ramadan from entering the U.S., the controversial Muslim scholar will speak in Chicago on Saturday—one of his first American appearances since U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised he would no longer be denied a visa for having alleged ties to terrorism. His opponents warn of danger ahead.

Ramadan, now a professor at Oxford University in England, will address an audience at the Council of American Islamic Relations in Chicago. His visa was revoked in 2004 right before he would have moved to Indiana to take a tenured teaching job at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

A champion of integrating Islam in the Western world, Ramadan criticized the Bush administration’s policies in the Middle East. He also has rejected Muslim terrorism as “anti-Islam.”

“Anyone who has read any of my 20 books, 700 articles or listened to any of my 170 audio-taped lectures will discern a consistent message,” Ramadan wrote in the Chicago Tribune in 2004. “The very moment Muslims and their fellow citizens realize that being a Muslim and being American or European are not mutually exclusive, they will enrich their societies. Since Sept. 11, I have lectured at countless American universities and civic organizations. The French consul of Chicago invited me in 2002 for a lecture trip in the United States, and I spoke at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.”

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, said he wasted no time inviting Ramadan to speak when the scholar’s rights to enter the U.S. were restored in January. He had last spoken with Ramadan in December when both of them spoke at the Parliament for the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia. Ramadan now has a 10-year visa.

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The New York Times reports that the U.S. State Department has lifted its visa ban on Prof Tariq Ramadan, who was a featured speaker at the 2009 Parliament in Melbourne.  Commentators interpret this move to indicate a new openness to dialogue by the current U.S. administration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/world/europe/21london.html?scp=1&sq=tariq%20ramadan&st=cse

The Prof Dr Tariq Ramadan, a major speaker at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions spoke Monday with Erdem Koc of SBS News about a Swiss referendum to ban minaret construction.  Ramadan draws distinction between local ties in many Western countries, which have improved in recent years and national initiatives, which he claims have faltered.

To listen to the full interview, click here.

Three major speakers spoke to the Parliament of the World’s Religions on the future of Islam and the West reports Australian newspaper The Age.  The panel discussion, titled Islam and the West: Creating an Accord of Civilizations featured pre-eminent scholars Dr Chandra Muzaffar, Prof Tariq Ramadan and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

The wide-ranging discussion included a statement by Muzaffar that a decline in the global power of the West will decrease tension between the two cultures, while Ramadan expressed the need for mutual respect and acknowledgment.

To read the full article, click here.

The Age reports on the Parliament panel discussion Islam and Politics: Faith, Governance and Society.  The panel features pre-eminent Muslim minds including Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Tariq Ramadan, Dr Siti Musdah Mulia, Dr Fahad a Alhomoudi, Dr Mahdi Mostafavi and Dr Burhanettin Tatar.  The discussion represented a variety of views and explored the relationship between religion and democracy and the importance of guaranteeing human rights.  The article can be read in its entirety here.